Risk atlas updated for San Miguel

The company Municipio has updated its Atlas de Riesgos de San Miguel (San Miguel Risk Atlas), which could help investors feel secure about investing in San Miguel. The document also could result in work in rural communities to avoid disaster.

On Wednesday, February 19, Municipio handed over to the local authorities the results of the Atlas de Riesgos, which had not been updated since 2005. The aim of the federal government is to compile a national risk atlas, and for that reason, Hugo González, a representative of the company, commented that they are working in the municipalities first in order to compile regional and state atlases, which together will form the national atlas.

The atlas, commented Édgar Bautista, head of the Urban Development Department, is not based only on climatic changes but also on the impact that residents have on the city. Bautista said that in general the municipality is a safe area and the atlas will help investors see that their investments are safe as well. This document will also help the local administration make decisions on public works projects.

Felipe Cohen, director of the Civil Protection Department, spoke to Atención and said that these public works range from the construction of bridges and paths in rural communities to reforestation and construction of terraces to avoid landslides. So far, the works are only proposals outlined in the atlas. The municipality has to work to get the federal resources to build them. Those paths and bridges would help link communities and also serve as evacuation routes in the case of catastrophe. Among the communities that need these kinds of works are El Fraile, San Miguelito, El Castaño and El Paredón.

The document does not include the geological fault that appeared during the rainfall last year in El Fraile and El Paredón because it is being analyzed by the Mexican Geological Institute. After the studies are finished the atlas will be updated.

On the matter of the landslides registered on El Caracol, Cohen said that the area is being monitored by special devices and there have not been variations in the movements of the earth.

In the months to come, a summary of the work will be published in the official state record. After that it will be available to the general public in the offices of the local administration. There are fees for accessing this public information.

A video of the an aerial survey done by the company can be viewed at www.municipium.mx/atlasderiesgos/sanmigueldeallende.